


Origin Stories: Cara (Enter Last Name Here)

by jjuu1l



Series: Junior Avengers and Friends [7]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Young Avengers
Genre: But you'll probably want to, Especially since this is connected to that universe, Gen, Meet cute-ish, Pre-It Started With A Party, Sorry people who found this in the Matt/Foggy tag, You don't have to read my other stories in this universe to understand this, and doesn't focus on Matt/Foggy, sorta angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 09:49:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14470062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjuu1l/pseuds/jjuu1l
Summary: Cara is a girl of mystery. This is a story that sheds a little light on the girl of mystery.





	Origin Stories: Cara (Enter Last Name Here)

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who's back. Back again.  
> As usual I haven't edited this, well I kinda did, but that's not the point. I've been really stressed out with school and writing another fic (that stole away so much of my time but I'm genuinely so excited about it) so hopefully as school draws to a close I can focus more on my writing and less on not failing any of my classes.  
> I really hope you guys like this! If you want to read more about Cara or any of the other original character's backstories I will happily write them. Since they all have backstories that i thought about so much before actually writing any of these stories.

Cara doesn’t like the way her morning is going. First, she’d woken up to hear things coming from Matt’s bedroom that made her consider going deaf too. In response, she’d screamed so loud that both of them had fallen out of bed and sprinted towards her room so fast they’d forgotten to put clothes on.

Not that Cara could see it anyways, but the gesture would’ve been nice. It takes fifteen minutes of Matt and Foggy floundering around their own feelings before she tells them that she approves, but if, and only if, she never has to wake up like that again.

Next, she almost gets run over by a truck. It’s a horrible experience, almost getting run over on your way to school. Especially when you’re trying to forget the way your adoptive dads sound when they’ve finally gotten their shit together and confessed their feelings. Maybe that was why she didn’t hear the way the bus breaks snapped or the beating of a dozen hearts inside that machine. Or maybe she did hear all of that and believed that for once her luck wouldn’t be so bad. (If that was the case, then she was wrong)

She does hear the screeching of tires, the rapid breathing of someone a few feet behind her as they reach out. Pulling her out of the street faster than any person could. Though at the moment she hadn’t thought to question it, hadn’t thought to memorize the way the stranger’s heart beat so much faster than anyone she’s ever met. No, she doesn’t question any of that. It’s what she does question that’s the problem.

“Holy shit dude! Are you okay? What the hell are you doing just walking in front of a bus like that? That’s so fucking dangerous! Did you even see how close it got to you?” The questions are fast. Too fast for Cara to comprehend, let alone respond. She’s too shocked, her world too close to having ended to do much more than clutch at her savior’s shirt. It feels remarkably like the one she’s currently wearing, though it impossible that this person that has such a fast heartbeat goes to the same school as she does. She would’ve noticed.

“Hey? Dude, are you in shock or something? Do you need someone to take you to the hospital? Because I might be able to do that, I think I could anyway. But it’d also be really nice to know if you like actually need any of this or if I’m like completely off base. Which might require you to like say something? Please?” She doesn’t speak for another whole minute. Taking a catalog of every body part she can think of before letting go of the person’s shirt. Concentrating on the girl’s surprisingly steady heartbeat before pulling herself away.

“No.” She responds, her mind is almost completely full of static in the worst way possible. She hasn’t felt this defenseless since- no. She can’t think about that, not now.

“No?” Cara thinks she’s panting, or maybe the stranger is, she can’t really tell.

“No, I didn’t see how close the bus got, I’m blind.” It takes a second for the other girl to respond. Or maybe it’s a couple of seconds. Cara can’t tell.

“What?”

I’m blind. I can’t see anything.” It’s not completely a lie. She’d never been able to see the way normal people could. Instead, she saw through what Matt called a world of fire. Sensing things in a way much closer to echolocation than anything else. She didn’t tell that to this girl though.

“Okay but- I mean- you just about fucking died!” She sounds much more focused on Cara’s mental state than Cara is. Which is usually the case when Cara’s got a problem that she doesn’t want to deal with.

“Uh, yeah, I guess I did. Could you- could you grab my phone? It’s in my backpack, and I need you to find Matt’s phone number or Foggy’s number? Or even Karen’s? I just- I can’t go to school now- I need a freaking-”

“Yeah, yeah, I can- I can, do that. Is it okay if I pull us into the coffee shop across the street? Because there’s a lot of people staring, and I think that you might need a drink or something.”

“O-ok.” Her day goes from strange to insane when the girl who saved her from getting hit by a bus starts rambling on about a math test she’s currently missing. In a way, it’s calming on her fried nerves. The way this girl is still worried about a test that she’s been up-all-night studying for. The way she continues to ramble on about her life. Switching from topic to topic as easily as breathing, never a lull in her monologues. After a few minutes, Cara allows herself to turn the monologue into a dialogue, asking a question about the school she goes to. It doesn’t take long before the bus incident is far behind her, instead focusing on the person in front of her.

“And I’m standing there, with my cousin Katie, staring at our teacher. I’d just moved from California mind you, and everything is so confusing down here. Like everyone’s always moving, like all the time, which is totally my style. But it’s not like that down where my aunt and I used to live. So, I’m like watching my teacher take his boyfriend out to a pizza place with my cousin, who’s not even batting an eyelash, while I’m like freaking the heck out! And- oh, I think your people are here?” Cara knows the sound of Matt’s heartbeat and the accompanying harmony of Foggy’s heartbeat. It’s easy to pull their presence out from the crowd of people on the street. Easy to hear the way Matt is tapping his cane much too fast for someone ‘blind’. If she had to guess, she’d say that Matt is probably barely keeping himself from sprinting down the street and into the coffee shop that Violet (the stranger who’d saved her life) had given the address of almost a half hour before.

“Oh, do you think you could help me over to them? They’re probably worried sick and Matt has trouble with crowds.” She waits a few moments for a response until Violet makes an ‘Oh shit’ noise that means she definitely nodded her head as a response. It makes Cara giggle, which is something she hasn’t done in years.

Violet offers her hand before catching herself again and asking if she needs help up, and that her hand is a few feet away from Cara’s arm. It takes a lot of self-control to keep from grabbing the girl’s arm, pulling herself to her feet in one fluid motion. Instead, she hesitantly reaches out, feeling around for Violet’s hand before ‘finally finding it’. As far as a sighted person goes, Violet isn’t the worst ‘guide’ she’s ever had. She continuously describes everything that’s happening around them.

Violet ruins that by pulling Cara around like she’s a doll or a dog. It’s a bit frustrating, but after saving her life, Cara doesn’t find the strength to be angry. It only takes a few seconds before Matt and Foggy’s heartbeats are only a few feet away. Taking a chance, she lets go of Violet’s arm and launches herself at the two.

She doesn’t let go of them for a few minutes. A few renegade tears slide down her cheeks before she can stop them.

The next few minutes feel like hours. Cara says goodbye to Violet, saying she’ll try and make it to school tomorrow. She senses the way Foggy tilts his head in confusion, Cara isn’t this nice to people. She’s sarcastic and borderline rude and a complete and utter mess. It’s why Foggy called her ‘Baby Matt’ for so long because they’d been so much alike.

Violet smiles at her and nods before correcting herself, saying “I nodded by the way, and I’m smiling. Just to uh, yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow!”. She collects her things and rushes out the coffee shop door. Cara doesn’t hide her smile at the girl.

It doesn’t take long before Matt and Foggy are bombarding her with questions about her morning. She explains she’d been distracted, which was why the bus had gotten so close. They ask what distracted her, and she lies, keeping her heartbeat as steady as possible.

Matt doesn’t push anymore if he does realize she’s lying. Which she appreciates. Instead, he changes the subject to Violet. “And the girl you were with was the one who pulled you out of the street?” He asks. Cara nods her head slowly, trying to determine what road this will lead her down.

She’d come out to Foggy almost a year ago, followed a few weeks later with coming out to Matt. Neither was judgmental, though neither completely understood what demisexual panromantic meant. In all fairness, she hadn’t known what either of those words had meant until she’d overheard a conversation between two of her fellow students and down some of her own research.

So, she knew it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that they might believe she was interested in this girl. It wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibilities that she’d actually begun to take an interest in Violet.

The realm of possibilities was limitless after all.

 

 

It wasn’t long after Matt had adopted her that Cara began to dawn her own mask. They’d fought for weeks over the subject. Matt arguing it was too dangerous for someone who couldn’t even legally drive a car. Cara argued that she’d never been legally able to drive a car. It continued on and on like that before Foggy eventually sat them all down and helped to write out a ‘completely legally binding so don’t give me that scowl Cara’ contract.

As long as Cara’s homework and chores were done, (‘at a reasonable time!’ Matt clarified, ‘and a reasonable amount of chores!’ Cara interrupted) then she could join Matt. He would decide whether or not she could engage with the people they found (‘Muggings without guns, and absolutely no drug addicts!’ Matt said, ‘What?! You take the fun out of everything.’ Cara complained) and if she couldn’t then she would stay a block away, without engaging in anything else.

There were several other rules that Cara had declared less important and paid much less attention too. Though she probably should’ve paid much more attention, especially if the rules included a ‘how to get out from underneath a collapsed building with another teenaged superhero doing a plank over you’.

The night had started out simply enough, she’d taken down a mugger or two. At one point she’d snuck a few blocks away from Matt and took down a drug deal that was not going well. It’d taken her a total of six and a half minutes to take down the deal, then another three to tie up the loose ends.

Of course, Matt had scolded her for running away. But it was more for his own sake than her own. They didn’t do much more that night, opting to head back to his apartment. From a block away, she could hear Foggy’s heartbeat, steady, reliable, moving around a heartbeat that took her a few extra seconds to identify. It caused her to stop on top of a building they’d been running across.

“What is he doing in your apartment? I- I thought-” Her words aren’t working like she wants them too. Falling over each other, stopping in their tracks, forcing themselves into places they shouldn’t be. Matt must’ve picked up the heartbeat as well, his own heartbeat picking up as he launched himself forward. Cara didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to breathe. Too afraid of this man. Too afraid of everything he’d done.

She waited there, on the rooftop almost a half mile away from Matt’s apartment until the heartbeat left. It took another half hour before she had the strength to get up, but by then it was probably safe.

“Hello.” Or not.

He hadn’t changed. Not in any way that mattered. He still smelt like the building he’d kept her in, and nicotine. Though she knew he’d never smoked before, ‘a disgusting habit’ he’d called it, thinking back she couldn’t find a memory where he didn’t have the distinct sound of a half-empty pack of cigarettes on him. The wind stilled at his appearance. The sounds of the city dulling down in submission to this statue of a man.

Her lungs weren’t working. Her heart beating at irregular intervals.

“I hope your training is going well. I still have high hopes for you Caroline.” The sound of her old name chills her bones. Sending tremors running through her muscles. ‘MOVE!’ Her body screams, ‘LEAVE!’ Her mind choruses. “You still have a chance-”

“I told you to leave. You’re not welcomed in our city.” She feels Matt’s hand on her shoulder, the first comforting thing she’s felt in what feels like years. The tension in the air rises, each passing second piling it on higher and higher. Soon it would be a collapsing mountain and Cara wasn’t sure she’d be fast enough to avoid the damage. “So, leave before you regret not taking our offer.”

Maybe it was her imagination, but in that moment, she could hear the way his breathing faltered. In that moment she could sense the way his heartbeat sped up, if only for a second, before returning to the heartbeat that had kept her company for over a year. The worst year of her life.

“Fine. I’ll go, but Caroline, remember what I said.” Then he was gone. His heartbeat leaping from roof top to rooftop.

Her lungs began to work again, and she could finally breathe. Matt didn’t ask her about Caroline. He didn’t push her to tell him why he knew her by a different name. For the first time in a long time, Cara didn’t speak to him when they got back to his apartment. She didn’t run for a hug or cry. She felt herself beginning to revert. Back to a shell of a girl, a girl who’d thought she healed, but maybe she hadn’t. Not completely.

Things were… rough, to say the least. Each day she found herself governed by a voice that wasn’t her own, it also wasn’t his which was something she was grateful for. Matt continuously avoided talking about what had happened, whilst Foggy kept insisting she talk to someone about what happened. She didn’t. Because if spending a year in what she considered a prison with only one other person to talk to had taught her anything, was that talking about anything could end in pain. So, she found herself avoiding them instead of speaking at all.

   

 

“Hey! How are you? I know you were like- oh it’s Violet by the way,” Cara ignored her, shutting her locker and starting towards her classroom. She only had one compared to a majority of the students, but she’d grown to enjoy her time in the room dedicated to the twenty or so other blinds students. At the moment that classroom was her only safe haven, so hopefully, Violet would take the hint and leave her alone. “I wasn’t sure if you could tell by my voice or not.” Cara had been able to tell Violet was intent on talking to her the moment she walked down the hallway. For some reason, Violet had been nervous and walked by Cara several times before stopping by Cara’s locker. “I googled whether or not blind people could recognize others by voice and the sites I found said that blind people could. But since we’d just met I guessed that you probably didn’t recognize my voice. You probably hear a lot of voices throughout the day so-”

“Yes, we do recognize voices. Thank you for telling me that, but if we don’t respond maybe you should leave us alone, or you could just be quiet and let us use one of the senses we do have!” Snapping at Violet isn’t her best moment, and she can admit that, but it’s not her worst, not by a long shot. So, when Violet makes a wounded sound why did Cara’s heart seize up? She barely knew this girl. They’d spoken once, and that was when Violet was trying to calm Cara down from almost getting hit by a bus. Violet shouldn’t mean anything to her. She should mean nothing.

“Oh, I- uh- sorry. I’ll leave.” She doesn’t say goodbye as she turns on her heel and heads down the hall. Cara feels the attention from her fellow students, it’s enough to cause her to walk a bit faster, swinging her cane to provide her a wider berth through the hallway.

Her shitty day doesn’t end there. Because of course it doesn’t, she runs into a wall when she’s too distracted to pay attention to where she’s going. Then some idiot trips next to her lunch table, and since she can’t let her secret out into the world, Cara allows mac n cheese to splatter all over her favorite jeans and hoodie. She’s loaded with too much homework to do anything that night besides study for a stupid history test. Not to mention Foggy keeps trying to get her to talk about her day, to ‘relieve a bit of her stress’, cornering anytime that he can. It’s frustrating, to say the least.

“Cara-” He’s standing in the doorway of her bedroom. Arms crossed over his chest like in some cliched movie right before the dad and daughter have a heart to heart. Well the jokes on him, because this isn’t some movie where heart to hearts happen. It’s real life. “I know you don’t want to talk to Matt or myself, but you need to talk to someone.” She scrunches up her face at the thought. Who’s she supposed to talk to?

“And who exactly am I supposed to talk to? It’s not like I have many friends, like, at all. I can name three people I’m on a first name basis with and that’s you, Matt, and Karen!” She responds, putting down the book she was supposed to be reading for History. Anything was more interesting than the political climate of the 1300s in Europe. “I’m not exactly the best person at socializing. If you haven’t noticed.”

He gives her a look. She can’t see the look, but she knows the general meaning of the look. ‘Cara, how many times have I told you that you were welcome to bring over someone who you’d want to be a friend?’. She knows it’s not as condescending as she’s currently perceiving it to be. But everything’s currently annoying her now so it’s hard to remember how well-meaning Foggy is.

She rolls her eyes and flips back onto her stomach to read some more.

 

 

She shouldn’t be hunting for bad guys. She shouldn’t be out on the street at all, Cara has too much homework to distract herself with drug deals gone south. Granted she also knows the minute she starts back towards home is the moment Matt will begin lecturing and grounding her. Even though her muscles are screaming, and her ability to filter sounds has begun to fail her as the night wears on Cara stays away from the only people she considers family. It’s not her best plan.

“It must be past your bedtime by now.” A voice says from behind her. It’s the second time in as many weeks that she’s had something sneak up on her. Though last time it was a bus, rather than a human being.

“Who are you?” She asks facing the voice. Whoever spoke to her is flying, which means they have powers, which means that she’s incredibly outnumbered in the abilities department. Taking her time, Cara draws herself up to her full height, being 5’2, however, is not doing much to add to her intimidating-ness. He hides a laugh under her breath as he descends onto the rooftop.

“I’m the Demiurge, and I wanted to talk to you about a team I’m bringing together.” It takes all of her self-control not to scream. The Demiurge was one of the most well-known heroes in the universe. He and Hulkling were the kind of power couple that everyone aspired to be, they were the kind of people that naturally fit together. The kind that people whose honesty made people trust them. Something that Cara found intriguing. She couldn’t imagine being that honest.

“You want to what?” She asked, raising an eyebrow, and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a sudden increase in teenage superheroes.” Cara nods. She’d overheard Foggy and Karen talking about a pair of heroes working together to stop a bank heist. One could apparently control ice, and the other fire, they’d subsequently frozen and burned the bank a few times over before leaving the robbers frozen to the sidewalk outside of the bank. Luckily no civilians got hurt, but there were a few close calls. “I want to create a group consisting of those heroes. To help guide them so that they have the guidance they need while going through this.”

“And what does that have to do with me?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I want you to join.” He wants her to do what? Cara? Joining a group of do-gooders? No way.

“Hah, funny, but I don’t really work well with other people, or in the daylight.” She raises her hand to gesture to the rooftop around them. If her senses are still accurate then there are several needles hidden in a box a few feet to her left. Not to mention a stash hidden on the opposite end of the roof.

“Okay then.” Wait, what?

“Wait, what? That’s it? You’re not going to try and convince me to join your little project?” He laughs in response. It’s a good-natured, humble laugh for someone so powerful.

“No, I’m not. I know for a fact that you’re working with Daredevil, and so far, he’s done a pretty good job of keeping you out of trouble. I just… I know what it’s like, to feel alone even when you're surrounded by people who care. To know that they’d do anything to help you, but not feeling worthy enough for that help. Besides, having people your own age who you can count on is important. Us adults won’t be around forever, especially since most of us are ‘heroes’.” She wants to laugh. Or cry. Maybe she’ll do both. Not in front of The Demiurge, one of the most powerful heroes known to the world, but maybe later.

“Did Daredevil tell you to come and talk to me?” It’s something Foggy would be more likely to do than Matt, but now that they’re dating Cara knows Matt will be that much easier to influence. Foggy knows it as well, which is partially why Matt hasn’t come after her yet.

“No.” Cara’s surprised to hear that he isn’t lying.

“Then how did you-”

“Most people don’t avoid their partners and work themselves up to death’s door if they feel like they’ve talked to someone.” It makes a little sense, though Cara still has no clue how he’d guessed so well. Gotten her feelings so locked down. “And forcing someone into a group is like adding a hole to a boat. All it does is bring everyone else down.”

“Can I think about it?” Her voice is small. So small. Cara can’t remember the last time she allowed herself to feel small around another person.

“Sure, just ask Daredevil to bring you in when you’re ready.” He doesn’t stay for long after that. Mentioning something about a parent-teacher conference tomorrow that he promised he’d go to this year.

Everything feels fake. The bricks under her hands. The wind on her face. Like she’s in a dream. Then one day, she’ll wake up back in that warehouse. With him. Everything will fall apart around her without warning and she’ll be back to a living hell.

Or, her mind suggests, or it’s all real. And you are on the road to being better. You are being trained to defeat him, maybe not this year, or the next. But someday. Someday.

She heads home to Matt lying on the couch. He’s not asleep but going over what she guesses are case files. Foggy’s coming back in from the kitchen, the telltale sound of beer bottles giving him away. Cara hears both of them hold their breath as she comes back inside.

“I- I think I found some people to talk to.”


End file.
